Russian and Serbian sappers have cleared the area around the town of Paracin in central Serbia of about 350 pieces of unexploded ordnance in the last four months, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said on Monday.
Unexploded ordnance from the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s has yet to be disarmed in several areas of Serbia. A joint Russian-Serbian sapper group, which includes 11 Russian explosives experts, started work in the Paracin area on March 16.
"Sappers from the Lider high risk rescue operations center have examined almost 450,000 square meters of territory around Paracin and disarmed 334 unexploded munitions, a ministry spokesman said.
The town of Paracin is located on the route of the future South Stream gas pipeline, which is due to transit Russian gas to Europe bypassing Ukrainian territory.
Last year, Russian sappers disarmed 731 unexploded munitions, including mines, artillery shells and bombs, in an area of about 80 hectares in Serbia.
Russian experts will continue mine clearing operations in Serbia until 2012.
MOSCOW, July 12 (RIA Novosti)
